First and formost, for any of you who think I am annoying normally, you ain't seen nothin. When I get wound I get WOUND... and I'm pretty sure I annoyed the hell out of everyone. I always realize I was being a pain in the neck after I have calmed down... Demo always tells me to go have a drink

Anyway, Saturday was our first foray into the show ring. I told the judge I was new to showing, but left out that Riggs is a working dog and that is the reason he is so lean. He came in second in adult male. After we were done, the judge asked me if he was a weight pull dog and when I told her yes she said "Ooooh". Obviously I should have told her before we started the class, as the dog that beat us was very good looking but a bit on the larger/heavier side. Chris and Megan did some coaching after I got out of the ring and that helped a lot.

Riggs didn't pull like a mad man and managed to not barf in the ring in any of the shows. He sniffed a lot when we were going around the ring which I will work on for the next show. All of the judges said he has excellent movement.

The second show was a little more difficult. We had already started pulling and they hadn't decided if they were going to move the Pits to the end of the show or keep them at the beginning; so we kept getting conflicting information. I ended up taking Riggs' harness off and on a few times and just got more and more anxious/nervous about what was going on. I'm perfictly fine with chaos, but it has to be directed chaos. If I had to go back and forth, that was fine, but I had to know and not have it changed on me over and over. Big kudos to Megan, Jess and Bobbie for taking care of that one for me! More about the pull later...

We finally got things straightened out with the show stuff and I trucked up there. I was out of breath when I arrived and the judge actually directed me to wait in the shade and collect myself and my dog. The other handler was in the ring already with her dog standing in the sun. I was amazed at the patience of the judges and competitors. Not that I assume that people are going to be mean/rude but it was so far in the other direction that it was remarkable. We took best adult male in the second show and then got reserve male.

The third show was Sunday, and Riggs and I got it together for that one. We got best adult male and best Male, earning one more leg towards his champion title. We didn't get best of winners though.

The third judge was interesting to show under. In the adult male class the judge suggested I worm him, as tapeworms were common in my area. In the best male catagory she referred to Riggs as "malnourished". He's thin, but he is fit. If he was malnourished, he wouldn't have muscles sticking out all over the place.

The pulls were very frusterating for me. I haven't done a lot of pulling, but Riggs is perfictly capable of pulling the starting weights. On Saturday he earned his second weight pull leg, pulling 430 pounds. He wouldn't pull 510. His first foul was with the empty cart, lovely. Once we got him going he was much better. Like the other dogs that got taken out of the pulling to go to the ring, he did not sucessfully pull again.

Sunday's pull was a defeat for me, though I have to admit I was angry/frusterated/upset with Riggs about it. In the morning he pulled 800 pounds. In the afternoon he refused to pull 350 - which would have completed his weight pull title and earned him a "Total Dog" award (winning in the ring and earning a weight pull leg). He just looked at me and basically flipped me off. It was a long day for both of us, but he was absolutely capable of moving the weight, he knew what I wanted, but the training wasn't there.

A few people spent a lot of time with me explaining how to do the training he needs to have sucessful, willing pulls.

Chris, Megan and Karen did very well in the ring, pulling and racing. I'll let them post about their acheivements though.

I have a lot of pictures, I haven't gone through them yet. I'll try to get some up today or tomorrow.

I met many more "Pit Bull people" (Megan, Chris and April know everyone). I can't say I remember everyone's names though I handed out a ton of PitBullTalk cards as well, so I'm hoping some people will stop in!

Michelle

Inside me is a thin woman trying to get out. I usually shut the bitch up with a martini.

Overall, you should be very proud of yourself and of Riggs. It sounds like you had a really great day. Any day that you can learn something new, a way to improve, is a great day!
Remember, when you're number one, there is only one way to go, and when you're not, there is only one way to go, too, and that is UP!!!
I wish I could have been there, I love going to the shows and meeting 'the people'!
Was Missy judging the pull?

Way to go Michelle!!!! I remember my first pulling weekend. I was a bundle of nerves!!! Little did I know how fun it really was going to be!!! Congrats to you and Riggs. You'll get your total dog, I know you will! I wish we could have been there but, $$$ is tight this year! Hopefully we'll see you sometime this summer!

I've had a man tell me that there was this milk I could get for worms for Oscar After I replied that he is wormed yearly along with vaccines and a checkup he then said "he looks a little lethargic" to wich I replied "he's just been for a 20 minute run and a 20 minute walk", "Oh", good grief.

I've seen Riggs and he is in prime shape, burly little bugger!

Anyway, I feel your pain...

that was all very off topic

congrats on even making it to the show! Its an incredible time commitment to practice enough to get there

Congrats on trying, Michelle. There are a lot of people who won't even try...they simply sit on the sidelines and watch...it takes nerve to go out there and do it!!! You should be proud of yourself.

I can't wait to see the pics!!!

Remember, with time will come trust. The more he trusts you (and vice versa) the more he will perform for you (and the more you'll help to be able to do that b/c of your calmness).

And I hate when people judge dogs due to them being thin. I had someone tell me my puppy looks like she is starving (you can JUST see her ribs). She's been dewormed...she gains weight just fine...but she's a working dog...with ALOT of energy. I feed her more than what is recommended, but she burns it off....I hate when people judge a dog as to what THEY think it should look like (as opposed to what it does, etc)...

Hey, sounds like a crazy good time, and congrats on the wins. Give Riggs a big hug, he did great. Did you have fun with your dog? That is worth more than a hundred titles. Took me a long time to learn that one.
Can't wait to see pics!

dogcrazyjen wrote:Hey, sounds like a crazy good time, and congrats on the wins. Give Riggs a big hug, he did great. Did you have fun with your dog? That is worth more than a hundred titles. Took me a long time to learn that one. Can't wait to see pics!

I had a lot of fun. Ruby was pretty mad about her crate time, but she'll get over it. She got to meet a lot of people, and had a few admirers. I thought it was funny considering they have show dogs and I have a badly put together mutt.

I was very happy with how he behaved in the ring considering his past antics on a show lead!

Michelle

Inside me is a thin woman trying to get out. I usually shut the bitch up with a martini.

CONGRATS! Every judge has their own preference I wouldn't worry about it. I've had judges say they love natural ears and others say the opposite.

Sounds like you both did well.

Wish I could have gone. This is the second weekend I've missed

I e-mailed the show sec. asking if any CH were preregistered and got no answer back. I just couldn't see driving 4 hrs for no competition and I didn't want to have to bring 3. I get stressed when I have more than 2 in the ring trying to watch what they are doing
Did any CH class dogs show up?

Patch O' Pits Pursuit-O-Perfection

Run Hard at the Rainbow Bridge My Angel Sock-M! I Love You Baby Girl! Now that your Mom Starlit is up there too, please help her learn the ropes, love and keep her company until I can see you both again. Starlit I love you!http://i14.tinypic.com/2a8q345.jpg

Well it was an interesting as hel weekend that's for sure. I posted the JR pics in the Gallery 'cuz I knew Debby wanted them ASAP

About the other stuff....... Saturday Dilly was in the conformation ring for comic relief I guess because she didn't do diddly (too small, too red, too wide chested blah blah) and I didn't expect her to. I just enter because it supports the club and they are super people and always have a great show and prizes for the little kids.

Phan took a Group 1 both shows. Wasn't that hard because he was the only sight hound. The Borzois and Pharaohs bailed on this show. Sigh.

Weight pulling was ok. Dilly did 590 I think it was it was over 15% and she weighed in at 39 pounds.

Sun. in conformation Dean del Toro showed Dilly and she utterly embarassed him. I got yelled at for being a chicken by Ruth so now I have to show the little wench in June. I hate getting in the ring. That's what kids are for.

While waiting for the 60 & 80 pounders to go Phan and Kel were in ring 2 where the judge put them while she judged Northern group. Doesn't a tornado thing pop up and suck up one of the big white canopies and swirl it around hittinh Phantom and Kelly? She has a multi colored back this morning. I think she was so scared for the dog she didn't even feel it hit her. That did it for the dog. Birds, bugs, trash, umbrellas all spooked him for the rest of the day. She went to the van had a cry then put his harness on and headed to the weight pull area.

Gotcha! Didn't mention the Ibizan jackrabbit cross got 2 UWP legs and a 4th on Sat did I? Shocked the crap out of us that's for sure. He was great for laughs. He quit at 510 on Sunday and after his stressful day the issue wasn't pushed. He actually likes it.

It was really late afternoon before ours and Rigg's class was called. There was a mix up and Chris pulled Rumble and they had thought it was Riggs when 2 rounds had gone by and Michelle strolled in. I was like oh sh*t! Sorry for adding to your stress Michelle. I figured they would take the 4 measly blocks off for you. They are pretty laid back about stuff like that and we were waiting for Boomer and Kaphri anyway.

When you were pulling him that stinkpot Riggs was looking in the corner to see if Chris was there the brat. The only thing that might have been different from yesterday was you lost your happy voice. It was more a stressed voice and he played you like a violin. I hate that when they do that. Jus think Glenda, be Glenda, spread munchkin cheer throughout the land. In other words act and look as damn stupid as I did. Apparently it works.

Dilly decided to try it for real on Sun. and she impressed the weight pullers there I guess. She ended up pulling a 990 and quit on 1070. I think Kaphri was the only one who went higher. She ended up pulling 25.38x her body weight. That would have been a 15 point pull if she'd have had her other leg on her uwp.

These are Sunday the last pull and the 14 year old had the camera.

Even after everything Dilly still loves mommy. I can't believe she took pictures of me after I said leave my fat ass out of everything. Witch

Yeah... when I went to go watch the terrier races I told them that I would be over there just in case my class came up. The confustion came from Chris pulling Rumble and them pulling Riggs because he was the only Punchline dog on the sheets for Sunday.

Of course, that just sent me off another notch. I've gotta bring valium to the next event. the judges were very nice about it and didn't even pause when I explained the situation. They said to go pull the blocks and get Riggs ready, no problem. My puppet shows make me nuts

Watching Phantom pull was really cool. I wish I had had my camera out on Sunday after Riggs and I were done.

Yeah, Riggs was looking for Chris. Riggs and I are still having some 'respect' issues because I am not as consistant as I need to be with him. I misunderstood some instructions that I had gotten on Saturday and compounded the problem. Riggs has a no-nonsence relationship with Chris, and has too much nonsence in our relationship.

Thing is, he listened to me in the show ring better than he has ever listened to me in conformation class. Then he just flipped me the bird during pulling. We're going to fix that little problem before June... or at least try to.

At the end of it all, we had a lot of fun and I don't fault Riggs and I don't fault myself. If you don't test your training you don't learn where you are lacking. Now we know what we have to work on.

Michelle

Inside me is a thin woman trying to get out. I usually shut the bitch up with a martini.

Run Hard at the Rainbow Bridge My Angel Sock-M! I Love You Baby Girl! Now that your Mom Starlit is up there too, please help her learn the ropes, love and keep her company until I can see you both again. Starlit I love you!http://i14.tinypic.com/2a8q345.jpg